7 weeks and visitors

Annie is 7 weeks old! Crazy how fast it goes. She is smiling more, she has been looking right at me and giving me huge smiles followed by what seems are giggles - sooo cute! She is really lifting her head high each day at tummy time or when she is laying on us.

This weekend Ella came to visit with Aunt Brenda and Uncle Dave. Mia and Ella had a blast, this was truly the first time they really played together. It was so sweet we would hear little giggles coming from the other room when they were playing. The big hit was jumping on "mimi's bed" as Ella put it. They were very cute together and we enjoyed the splash pad and dinner out on Saturday night and just hung out and visited with our little girls.


Sunday dad went to the city to buy our new BOB Duallie stroller! We are super excited about it now that I can walk both girls (and dogs) at the same time. We debated for awhile about getting a tandem stroller versus side by side and decided on the one we got and I love it. We took the girls on their first walk after dinner and it was such a smooth ride.

Looking forward to this weekend celebrating Annie's first holiday - fourth of July - at our summer house!!!

Bosco

Last night Corey and I both cringed when the tornado warnings were blaring right before bedtime - we knew a thunderstorm was the last thing we needed to conquer this jack in the box syndrome. Sure enough, around 1030 we heard crying coming from Mia's room as the thunder started to roll. She came out of her bed, shaking with fear. So we comforted her, walked her back to her bed and told her it was ok, etc. Tucked her in and said good night. She stayed put but I felt horrible that the thunder was still roaring and she was laying in bed scared. So I decided that she needs to sleep with a beagle...I brought Bosco up to her bed and tucked him in under her covers at the foot and she was SO happy. It made me feel better that she was able to sleep knowing that Boscki was with her. Guess what...she stayed in bed until 8am this morning when I got her out! hope this continues....

spring grass

I let Mia pick out a new nail polish at Target the other day ... she chose Spring Grass, a bright green color. So cute! Also, she only wants to wear dresses lately. Which is great because she only owns 4 pairs of shorts that fit her. She's a headband, dress, train and car loving kinda girl ;)

Jack in the box!

Oh boy oh boy! You'd think the newborn in the house was keeping our family up at night...nope! It's the 2 year old! A few days ago Mia started to sneak out of her bed, sneak upstairs and into our bed. A week ago I woke up to nurse Annabel and was startled to see Mia asleep at the foot of our bed! So we have started the mummy routine, we put her back to bed, unemotional, no talking...it's tough. When she comes out we put her back until she stays for good - hence JACK IN THE BOX! Corey and I have been taking turns, he mostly does it since I am with Annie or trying to sleep in between feedings. We have tried rewards, we have talked to her about rules, we even had to skip a birthday party on Saturday because we told her we were too tired to take her since she didn't want to stay in bed. Tonight we are going to try to put a gate on her door and tell her that if she stays in bed the gate will come down...I hope it works as she has not been sleeping and is so tired the next day. And she has a giant princess coloring book that is just waiting for her to paint in whenever she stays in bed all night long!

Mia has also become very aware of thunder (we have been having storm after storm) so that was another thing that threw her off. Corey had to stay with her one night because she was shaking she was so scared. Now throughout the day if she hears a noise she will ask us "mom/dad what was that?". I hope this phase passes - quickly!

Otherwise we have been keeping busy during the week. Storyhour started last week and we were out everyday doing a different activity. Sunday we celebrated Father's Day by going out to breakfast then for a long walk, Daddy and Mia went to the park then we had a BBQ.

Daddy took Mia to our town's car show during the week and she picked out a vintage Jaguar as her favorite. She told Corey "ohhhhh I like this one".

Annie is doing good - 6 weeks old already! When you lay her on your chest she can lift her head so high! She has really fallen into a good routine at night, sleeps by 830/9 (when she is a bit older her bedtime will move much earlier) then up around 230/3, 530 then 7 for nursing. We have some busy weekends ahead of us, including traveling to the summer house and to Ohio so I know this will throw Mia off even more but we'll get back on track!

pics: Mia running at the splash pad, Annabel, Mia running on the 'track'

Mia quote of the day...

"that's beautiful. I love it". She said that about everything today :)

I am so glad we bought a new washer before Annabel was born. Seriously I feel like I am doing laundry every other day. I don't mind I just like her stuff nice and fresh!

Annabel is 5 weeks old! Today she put her hands together for the first time. She recognizes my voice, Mia and daddy's too. She will turn and look at us very intently. She is such a sweetie and I thank God for her everyday.

Mia is a stich. If Annie is crying she will come, put her arm around me and say "it's ok mom". She was playing with her light up ball yesterday and when it lit up she said " look mom I caused that". Such a smarty. We signed up for the summer reading program at the library and storyhour which starts this Wednesday. I am so glad she loves to read already. She just makes Corey and I smile with her sense of humor.

Sunday was a nice day. We took a 2.5 mile walk on the old plank trail in Frankfort then went to their farmers market. We had a grill out then Mia and dad had an ice cream date at Mitchell's. We are making Sunday a day where we try to do something fun just our family. Saturday nights are mommy's break from cooking (although I truly love cooking) and our go out to eat night. Mia is such a great eater, tonight she kept asking for more asparagus. She loves her fruit and veggies.

1 month

One month ago our little Annabel was born! This past Saturday we ventured out and attempted our first dinner out as a family of four. It went great! We tried a new restaurant in town and Annabel slept the entire time until the very end but we were ready to leave by the time she started to stir. She is getting bigger and NB is starting to get tight on her - but 3 months are still a little big but they work. I have a feeling she will have early gross motor skills like her big sissy as she is already trying to roll from back to front - yikes! She isn't a huge fan of tummy time but can lift her head very nicely either on the floor or on our shoulders. Last night she slept all the way until 430 for her first night feeding - I was shocked, I woke up at 330am waiting for her to want to nurse, I almost woke her up but am glad I left her because then she woke up an hour later. She is a little peanut and so cute! She is starting to smile awake (she smiles all the time in her slept).

Mia is funny. She likes to tease us a lot. Some of her quotes she is saying now are as follows. She will say something like what she wants to do (read a book, go for a walk) then say " how bout that Mom? that sound good?" and everything is "better" like if she falls she'll say "i'm all better mom" or if we are walking she'll see a car and say "car is all better". Somedays she will just say "better and better and better" ...its funny. She is such a good eater too and I hope that keeps up. Bedtime has been a little challenging with the baby...but what seems to be working is that I get her ready and read to her then Daddy comes up to sing to her and put her to sleep while I take Annie. Mia is doing great in her big girl bed still and sometimes wakes up before us! We have found her many mornings in her play area coloring downstairs when we are asleep upstairs, so we started to lock the top gate at night so that she comes up to our room. But she is such a good girl and so funny!